DDD. Inferno
Writer: Don Houghton
Directors: Douglas Camfield and Barry Letts (uncredited)
Designer: Jeremy Davies
Action by: Havoc (2-3)
TRANSMISSION DETAILS:
272. Episode One 09.05.1970 5.15pm - 5.40pm 5.7M/72nd/61%
273. Episode Two 16.05.1970 5.15pm - 5.40pm 5.9M/66th/61%
274. Episode Three 23.05.1970 5.15pm - 5.40pm 4.8M/85th/60%
275. Episode Four 30.05.1970 5.15pm - 5.40pm 6.0M/54th/60%
276. Episode Five 06.06.1970 5.15pm - 5.40pm 5.4M/54th/---
277. Episode Six 13.06.1970 5.25pm - 5.50pm 5.7M/73rd/58%
278. Episode Seven 20.06.1970 5.15pm - 5.40pm 5.5M/79th/60%
CAST:
PROFESSOR ERIC STAHLMAN: Olaf Pooley; PETRA WILLIAMS: Sheila Dunn; GREG SUTTON:
Derek Newark; SERGEANT BENTON: John Levene (credited as Platoon Under Leader for 3-5);
JOHN BROMLEY: Ian Fairbairn (1-4,7); SIR KEITH GOLD: Christopher Benjamin (1-5,7);
PRIVATE WYATT: Derek Ware (1-3); PRIVATE LATIMER: David Simeon (1,3); HARRY
SLOCUM: Walter Randall (1-2); RSF SENTRY: Roy Scammell (4); PRIMORDS: Dave Carter
(5-6), Pat Gorman (5,6), Walter Henry (6), Philip Ryan (5-6), Peter Thompson (5-6);
PATTERSON: Keith James (6). UNCREDITED: LOUDSPEAKER VOICE: Ian Fairbairn; RADIO
VOICE: Jon Pertwee (5 - Australian version only); TECHNICIANS: Keith Ashley, Barry
Ashton, Alistair Baine, Robert Birmingham, Valerie Bland, Norton Clarke, Alan Clements, Richard
Cooper, Michael Earl, Marcelle Elliot, Ronald Gough, Bertie Green, June Grey, Joan Harsant, Derek
Hunt, Colin James, Richard King, Sheila Knight, Richard Lawrence, Natalia Lindley, Patricia
Matthews, Keith Norrish, Sue Patterson, Judith Pollard, Corinne Skinner, Harry Tierney, Steve
Tierney, Cy Town; SOLDIERS: Marc Boyle, Alan Chuntz, Les Conrad, Ian Elliott, Royston
Farrell, Billy Horrigan, Roy Street, Terry Walsh
STORY:
U.N.I.T. is providing the security for a top secret drilling project, and the Doctor is observing.
Professor Stahlman hopes to be able to drill into the Earth's crust and release a new energy source
which he has named after himself: Stahlman's Gas.
Professor Stahlman dismisses the concerns of Executive Director Sir Keith Gold and exceeds saftey
margins in order to speed up the drilling. The drill head starts to leak a green oily liquid, and
anyone who touches it is turned into a primeval creature that craves heat.
The Doctor has been experimenting with parallel universes and using the TARDIS is transported to a
parallel universe. He finds a similar world, but finds that Earth is ruled by a dictatorship. He
finds that the same experiment is going on, but it is at a slightly more advanced stage.
The Doctor is able to find out what is likely to happen if the crust is broken, and there is no way
to save this new world from destruction. The alter-egos, learning that there is an escape,
try to get the Doctor to take them through to his universe. The Doctor manages to evade them and
return to his universe, and stop the drilling.
BLOOPERS:
Episode 1: Look at the Nuclear Power Output gauge in the TARDIS laboratory -
they've spelled "Megavolts" as "MEGGA VOLTS".
Episode 1: This is a pretty general problem, but it's best illustrated by an instance in
Episode 1. The first person to be turned into a monster by the ooze is supposed to be red-hot (as
are they all): when he dies lying against a wall, the paint is blistered and burnt by the heat from
his body. Yet his clothes remain undamaged, and do not burst into flame! I guess the BBC couldn't
tolerate a bunch of singed, greenish nudists running around a children's show menacing the cast.
STUDIOS:
Television Centre Studio 3, Television Centre Studio 6, Ealing Television Film Studios
LOCATIONS:
Berry Wiggins & Co, Kingsnorth-on-the-Medway, Kent
WORKING TITLES:
The Mo-Hole Project, Project Inferno
NOTES:
The story title, writer credit and episode number blurr in over footage of volcanoes and flowing
lava.
For episode five only, Caroline John is credited as Section Leader Elizabeth Shaw. This is also the
last story to feature the character of Liz, who disappears between seasons
This is also the last story to have no specially composed incidental music
Douglas Camfield fell ill during production, so Barry Letts took over as director for some of the
story
There are no audience appreciation figures available for Episode Five
NOVELISATION:
Inferno
Terrance Dicks
VIDEO:
Inferno
